


A Wise Investment

by just_ann_now



Category: Gone With the Wind
Genre: Education, F/M, Ficlet, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 04:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_ann_now/pseuds/just_ann_now





	A Wise Investment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Edoraslass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edoraslass/gifts).



**A Wise Investment**

Captain Rhett Butler wasn't like any man I'd ever known. He smelled better, first off, and tasted better, and always asked politely for specialties, instead of just shoving me down on the bed. And afterwards, instead of jumping up and pulling on his pants and running out the door like the place was afire, he'd curl me around him and talk to me, really talk to me, like I was a decent woman and not a twenty-cent whore.

One day, I remember it like it was yesterday, he came in all smiling and happy from a high-flyin' day at the horseraces, and afterwards tipped me a five-dollar gold piece. 

"Are you sure?" I gasped. I'd never had that much money in my hand before.

He laughed. "I'm lucky today, and want to share that good luck with my friends. And you're a good friend to me, Belle, always have been." 

I couldn't help it; I almost started to cry then and there. I told him he was like one of those magic princes in the stories my Meemaw used to tell, making wishes come true. Then his face became very serious.

"What would your wish be, Belle? If you could have anything?"

I'd have you, I thought, but had the good sense to not say it. "I'd like to be in business for myself. I've been watching how Miss Caroline does things, and I can think of ways to do them better." 

He stared at me for long minute, then pulled out paper and pencil from inside his jacket. "Let's talk about this." 

He asked me things like what neighborhood I thought my house should be in, and where I'd get my girls, and how would I find suppliers for whiskey and food and sundries. I must have given him good answers, because he kept nodding and writing. Finally he sat back and looked hard at me. "Can you read, Belle? You won't know if someone's cheating you if you can't read and write and do figures for yourself."

I stared back at him, speechless, knowing in that moment that my dreams meant nothing. I'd be here at Caroline's getting older and uglier, stuck with the worst customers, until I ended up doing the housekeeping or working the kitchen 'til the end of my days. If I was even that lucky. 

Rhett reached out and took my hands in his. "We'll think of something. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open, watch and learn as much as you can. Five years, Belle; in five years I'll be your silent partner, and you'll have that house of yours." 

A few weeks later, we got a new girl in, a pretty quadroon named Jasmeen, straight from New Orleans. Captain Butler sent her, the other girls whispered where they knew I could hear, thinking to hurt my feelings. And it did, a little, until one afternoon there came a tapping at my door. It was Jasmeen, with a little book in her hands.

"Miss Belle? Captain Rhett Butler sent me. I'm here to teach you to read."


End file.
